Techsplained: How can you protect yourself from Ransomware Attacks?

If your business is hit with a Ransomware Attack  you could lose more than just your files. 

Techsplained, uncomplicating technology and making it easy for you.

In this video and article we are going to discuss Ransomware in more detail. 

What is Ransomware? How serious could it be for you and your business if just one of your computers becomes infected with Ransomware?  

If you find that one of your computer has become infected with Ransomwarewhat should you do? And how quickly can Ransomware spread to other computers on your network? 

And how can you protect yourself from Ransomware attacks? 

We will cover all this and more in this video and our below article.

What is Ransomware? 

Ransomware is a name given to a type of virus or piece of malware that can infect your computer or network. Once infected, the ransomware could spread to all of the files on your system and lock, or encrypt them. If this happens, you may not be able to access any of your files, and when you do try you may be presented with a file that did not originate from your computer, this could be an image or text file, or you may be presented with some form of a ransom screen. [show wannacry screenshot] 

In the majority of cases the attacker will demand a sum of money in BitCoin or some other form of cryptocurrency in exchange for the key to decrypt your files.  

However, it is also worth noting that in the UK, data regulation laws mean you can also face fines if personal data is stolen as part of a data breach from a ransomware attack or other hack/data breach. 

How can you become infected by a Ransomware attack? 

In many cases Ransomware attacks are the result some form of Phishing attack, you can learn more about Phishing attacks, how you can spot them and how to prevent against them at this link. 

These phishing attacks may include a link to steal your log in credentials, to access your computer, network or download a malicious file to your system that starts the attack. Attacks could even come from a malicious advert on a website that you click on, which downloads a file to your computer when you click on them. 

Once the virus starts to infect your computer and network it can quickly bring you or your business to a grinding halt. Recently, Colonial Pipeline in the US suffered a severe cyber attack which caused the firm to shut down it’s fuel distribution network. Causing fuel shortages across many states in the southern US. In this instance attackers launched the Ransomware attack by gaining access to a VPN account for a user who’s user details had previously been exposed in a data breach on the dark web. This account was out dated and no longer actively in use by anyone in the business. The credentials for the account had not been removed, disabled or the password altered, and no Two Factor Authentication was required. Due to this, the attackers were easily able to use information found on the dark web to access the Colonial Pipeline systems. 

The attackers reportedly accessed and explored the Colonial Pipeline systems for more than a week before activating the ransomware and sending the ransom note. Colonial Pipeline paid more than 4.4 million dollars to end the cyber attack, and they probably lost more than that in lost business. If Colonial Pipeline had active Dark Web Monitoring, this attack could have been prevented, as they would have been notified about the vulnerable account before the attack occurred and they could have ensured that these credentials were no longer valid on any of their systems. 

If you want to find out more about One2Call’s Active Dark Web Monitoring service click on the link below. On that page you can also request for a FREE one off dark web scan for your business. 

Does Ransomware just infect one computer? 

Ransomware can quickly effect any and all files that you can access. These may be just be those located on your computer. However, if you have access to shared network folders this can mean that these files can also become infected. It doesn’t just stop there though as if one file on your network becomes infected then it could potentially spread to other files that you may not have access to. Before you are even aware of it, all of your businesses files could be locked and encrypted. 

As we saw in the Colonial Pipeline Ransomware attack, one vulnerable user account was all it took to launch a ransomware attack which cost the company millions of dollars. 

What should you be doing to mitigate the risks of Ransomware Attacks? 

Whilst Ransomware can cost you or your business a lot of money or leave your business crippled as the result of an attack, you may be surprised that protecting yourself from Ransomware attacks is easy and in the grand scheme, quite inexpensive. When protecting yourself there are few things that you need to consider; 

Updates

Does your computer have all of the latest software updates and security patches installed on it?  

Security updates are released on a regular basis for all major providers to help your protect from potential vulnerabilities from the latest threats. It is good practice to check for these updates on a regular basis. At One2Call our Managed IT Support can notify us if any computer updates are waiting to be installed and force an update schedule to them if they are not done after a certain amount of time. 

Security

When installing software, it is important that you do not give admin permissions to the software unless you understand exactly what it does, what it can access and if it is from a verified and reputable source. 

Anti-Virus / Endpoint Protection

Do you have a suitable Anti-Virus that is actively updated to protect you from the latest viruses as soon as they are found and a protection from them developed? Our Anti-Virus solution connects to a database which is updated live 24 hours a day, every day of the year with all of the latest threat prevention tools to ensure you are protected against the latest known viruses as soon as possible. 

Email Security

The majority of ransomware attacks originate from phishing attacks or emails. As such, one of the best ways to protect yourself from ransomware attacks such as these, are from the source, by preventing phishing emails and malicious links being received in the first place. This is where Active AI Powered Email Threat Prevention comes in. 

At One2Call, we can offer real time mailbox scanning and monitoring to ensure you are protected from receiving phishing emails; It can verify links you receive in emails to ensure that they are legitimate & it can identify potentially vulnerable people in your business who are at risk from attacks such as Managers, Directors and Financial staff members. 

If you want to find out more about our Active AI Powered Email Threat Prevention click on the link below. You can also request for a FREE one off mailbox security scan to check for vulnerabilities in your businesses emails. 

Backups

Another thing that you should be considering is your backup process. Do you have adequate backups of all of your files?  

Do you know what the 3,2,1 backup method is? Backups are an essential part of a businesses IT strategy. The 3,2,1 backup strategy says you should always have 3 copies of your files, one on your computer/primary storage medium, one backed up externally, on your network on another form of external storage. And a third, remote backup, that is in a different building to your first and second copy of your files, ideally on a separate network entirely. If your files are backed up like this then you can ensure that you will always have a copy to restore from if the worst does happen.